dell streak 5
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Dell delivers official Gingerbread ROM to the discontinued Streak 5
Although we wouldn't go as far as saying the Streak 5 is coming out of its grave, we can tell you that Dell is making an effort to help it regain consciousness -- which is great news for those of you who own the device. Don't mind that ICS is here, or that it's been 12 months since we first met Android 2.3, what's important is that the smartphone / tablet is ready to get its first (official) taste of some Gingerbread goodness. Needless to say, we know you're thrilled to make the OS transition, but before you do so, hit up the source link for all the nitty-gritty from the XDA folks to help guide you in your quest.
Lenovo LePad S2005 leaps into China
The Lenovo LePad S2005 is now making the rounds over in China. Our crack team over at Engadget.cn saw the above announcement on Lenovo's official Sina Weibo page. If you haven't got a dictionary to hand, we can tell you that the 5-inch Gingerbread tabletphone has a disappointing 800 x 480 display and runs Android 2.3.5 on its dual-core 1.2GHz Qualcomm chip. Pre-sale prices are RMB 2,499 ($390) or RMB 2,699 ($425) if you turn up on the day. Sadly you won't be able to get your hands on one of these, as it's a Chinese exclusive. If we see anyone begging eBay for a secondhand Dell Streak 5, we'll guess you just couldn't bear the thought of buying a Galaxy Note.
Samsung Galaxy Note vs. Dell Streak 5... fight!
Sure, some may have had a good ole laugh at the Streak 5, arriving with enough display real estate to border on tablet territory -- in fact that's what Dell sold it as. Fast forward a year, and it looks like that weighty slab of phone -- or tiny tablet, depending on your interpretation --was simply ahead of its time. Most phone manufacturers are now skating around the five-inch mark, and Samsung even went a little further. With the Galaxy Note recently paying a visit to the FCC, we thought it was time to see how these two barely-phones stacked up against each other. We're leaving the technical specs aside at this point -- you can check the reviews for those -- but we can still line them up and take plenty of photos of the resulting face-off. The full gallery awaits below.%Gallery-141381%
Lenovo LePad S2005 vs. Dell Streak 5... cuddle!
It's inevitable that these two 5-inch tabletphones -- the Dell Streak 5 on the left and the Lenovo LePad S2005 on the right -- are to meet in the Chinese capital. With the exception of the slightly taller body on the S2005 everything else are suspiciously similar, especially the button and camera layout. Well, there's a good explanation for this: we've been informed that this new tabletphone hails from the same ODM, Qisda, as Dell's counterpart. Too bad Lenovo decided to keep the same screen resolution though. According to Stone Ip from Engadget Chinese, he found that the S2005 has a nicer grip than the Streak, and he also digs its more masculine appearance -- obviously this is open to debate. Performance-wise this slate responded well to our input, but the lack of promise on an Ice Cream Sandwich update will probably make potential geeky buyers think twice. Well, good thing we have some awesome modders around the interwebs these days. %Gallery-140564%
Dell quietly kills Streak 5 while nobody's looking, mourns end-of-life status
The Dell Streak 5 has always been an outlier, and it's traveled a bumpy road ever since the unveiling when Dell insisted its smartphone was in fact a portable tablet. From the delayed launch in the US to its $549 price for a SIM-locked unit -- not to mention the uncomfortably long dance with Donut -- perhaps this moment has been coming for a while. That's right, folks, the Dell Streak 5 is no more. Last month we reported it had been taken off the market while it received a software update, but the hive mind in Round Rock must have changed its sentiments along the way. The company now hosts a web page that declares its spacious smartphone / compact tablet has met end-of-life status, and it's offering little information other than the ominous phrase, "Streak 5 is no longer available." Perhaps spinners such as DJ_Steve will keep the misbegotten wonder alive with projects like StreakDroid, but for the time being, we're forced to hang our heads to honor the Streak's passing. It's been a great ride, indeed.
Dell offers unlocked Streak for $99 with purchase of a new PC
Dell's Streak 5 tabletphone hasn't held our interest much lately, even with Android 2.2 on board, but Dell's got a new deal that may be too good to pass up. If you already had your heart set on nabbing a Dell notebook or desktop PC priced at over $699 -- say, one of those shiny new Sandy Bridge rigs -- you can add an unlocked Streak 5 to your cart for an additional Benjamin. Now that's what we call an impulse buy. [Thanks, Matthew K.]
